Pope Meets Waldheim Amid Tension, Protest

June 26, 1987|By Uli Schmetzer, Chicago Tribune.

VATICAN CITY — Pope John Paul II met with Austrian President Kurt Waldheim for 35 minutes Thursday in an audience rigid with protocol and tense with controversy over the former United Nations secretary general`s role in Hitler`s army.

Outside the towering walls of the Vatican enclave, Italian police kept about 50 demonstrators--some of whom yelled ``Shame!`` and ``Waldheim: Nazi hangman!``--behind a barrier and well away from St. Peter`s Square. The protesters held up placards reading: ``Waldheim offered the gallows--the Pope offers the cross`` and ``Austria Yes. Waldheim No.``

In their official speeches neither the Pope nor the Austrian president alluded to the allegations of Waldheim`s military service in World War II. Jewish organizations have accused Waldheim of involvement in Nazi war crimes when he served in the German army in the Balkans during World War II, an allegation which he has denied.

Waldheim told the Pope: ``I can assure Your Holiness that I appreciate the high value of this meeting with all its significance.``

The Pope, who maintained a stoic expression during the audience, praised Waldheim for his postwar activities ``in favor of securing peace among nations.``

Four countries, Guatemala, Honduras, Monaco and Costa Rica did not send representatives to the official reception. The ambassadors to the Holy See from West Germany, Holland, Belgium, Britain, Argentina and Italy were represented by minor officials.

The United States, which has banned Waldheim from entering the country, was represented by the third-ranking official at its Embassy to the Vatican.

After the meeting Waldheim said he and the Pope had ``marginally``

discussed the accusations against him.

``The Pope knew from the beginning the problems the visit would create,`` Waldheim said. ``But he wanted it to go ahead anyway, and it was a success thanks to the cordiality and the comprehension the Pope showed for Austria.`` The 68-year-old Austrian president, immaculate in his long tails, arrived in a limousine with his wife, dressed in black and wearing a black veil, 15 minutes early in Vatican City after being brought in through a side gate.

Analysts pointed out that the Pope praised only Waldheim`s postwar record when he said: ``Your activity as diplomat, foreign minister and United Nations secretary general was always dedicated to securing peace among nations. As the highest representative of Austria, your professional experience can now be placed at the service of your country.``

While Jewish organizations denounced the Vatican visit as ``a whitewash of Waldheim,`` the Austrian president hinted that through his visit to the Vatican he had submitted himself to the world`s highest moral authority.

``The fateful question of humanity requires many helpful hands,``

Waldheim said. ``You, Holy Father, are a symbol for all of those who have placed themselves into the service of this task. Your constant urgings to do good, to realize justice, has made you into a recognized moral authority, yes, into the conscience of the world.``

Outside, under a hot summer sun, American Rabbi Avi Weiss shouted to the crowd of protesters: ``This is a day of infamy.`` A man who said he lost both his parents at Auschwitz concentration camp said: ``So the tears of the Pope at Auschwitz were only crocodile tears. We don`t want tears, we want facts.`` Some protesters, former Nazi prisoners, showed the numbers that had been tatooed on their arms when they arrived at concentration camps during World War II. Others wore death camp uniforms.

Rome`s Jewish community, the oldest in the world, sent only a handful of people to support the demonstration. Rome Rabbi Elio Toaff did not support the rally and Jewish community leader Tullia Zevi was abroad.

``In the end we are here alone again,`` said Rabbi Weiss.

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir led a chorus of international protest against the meeting.

``It`s an outrageous act,`` Shamir said. ``It could be interpreted as a justification for crimes of which Waldheim is accused.``

There was little reaction to the Vatican meeting from any government other than Israel`s, but Jewish and Catholic leaders in several countries were quick to respond.

In contrast to the strength of Jewish feeling, Catholic opinion was muted and apparently divided on the issue.

In Washington, members of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which traces ex-Nazis and their collaborators, held an all-night protest vigil outside the Vatican`s embassy.

The leader of Austria`s small Jewish community, Paul Grosz, expressed concern Thursday over a rise in anti-Semitic attacks in the predominantly Catholic country since the Pope`s invitation to Waldheim.

He said Jews were spat on and given a Nazi salute outside a Vienna synagogue last weekend.